Nfl's Stance On Domestic Abuse Far Short Of Super

In a sick way, Rita Smith wishes the trend was more widespread. At least then she would have some ammunition to take to the NFL. Something, anything to force league officials to confront the problem.

The fact is, there are no official statistics on how many men beat up their wives on Super Bowl Sunday. There are, however, shelters in Buffalo that can tell you of the nearly astronomical rise in phone calls and walk-ins on the four consecutive Super Sundays the Bills lost.

Toni Loch can simply tell you about last Sunday. "We doubled the numbers in our shelter last weekend," said the executive director of the family violence center in Green Bay. More specifically, they doubled their numbers Sunday night, after the Packers were eliminated from the playoffs.

"We kind of anticipated it, depending on the outcome," Loch said. " Especially with the amount of hype. Overall, from our own experience, we see a marked increase in demand for our services after Packer home games, and specifically Packer-Bear games. That's the one that really does us in."

Typically, Loch explained, tension in the home has already built up over the weekend--the man is either drunk or hung over; the wife doesn't keep the kids quiet enough. "It's one frustration on top of another," said Loch. "Then just watching the violence of the game. (Last Sunday) was a violent game anyway. Just the level of aggression increases tolerance of it. It almost gives you permission to do it."

Especially when their heroes, at a growing rate, are doing it too.

No one is advocating banning football. And even proving that the Super Bowl or other big games increases the number of domestic-abuse cases would still not explain, said Smith, "why men batter women on a rainy day in June."

Nevertheless, pro sports, and especially the NFL, could be very helpful in fighting the problem in general. And Smith, executive director of the National Coalition against Domestic Violence, is increasingly frustrated that they aren't. The fact that more and more athletes are involved in domestic-abuse cases shows that the problem does not simply affect fans.

"If they would just address the problem and admit that it affects the game and not keep saying that it's personal and part of the player's family life," she said. "So is drugs. I would love to see them make a similar statement on domestic violence as they have with drugs, gangs and guns."

Why don't they? Included in the NFL's public-service announcements on the United Way, there is some mention of the fact that the charity supports various shelters. And a spot on "Fox--Under the Helmet" is called "Violence: Don't Play That Game," which "incorporates all kinds of violence," according to an NFL spokesman.

"The sense I get is that most of the sports entities don't want violence and sports connected," Smith said. "Maybe it could be counterproductive, but it depends how you take it on."

Smith cites the O.J. Simpson case as a possible reason for football's sensitivity. "Pro sports right now wants to cover up the issue," she said. "Why is that? If we could leverage the NFL to make a statement and a policy for how they deal with it internally, then possibly baseball, hockey and basketball would follow suit."

NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said that aside from the United Way spots, the league has taken steps to "heighten players' awareness," in the form of presentations during the preseason and by "setting up a support system" for the player or player's family that has a problem with domestic violence.

"It's an issue we recognize and want to deal with," said Aiello, "but it's not one unique to sports and football."

While Smith urges new policies in the NFL--"If someone is arrested Friday, then they don't play Sunday,"--Aiello referred to a recent case of a player on the Cincinnati Bengals convicted in a domestic-abuse case. "The judge in the case pointed out that it's not the role of the victim to determine how the case is handled, it's up to the court," he said. "To take it one step further, it's not up to the NFL to determine how criminal issues are handled."

That's part of the problem, said Smith. "We know a lot of domestic violence doesn't get to the court system. That doesn't mean it's not a problem."

Loch can confirm that. "If a Packers player is arrested for domestic violence, it's just taken care of," she said. "You don't read about it in the paper. It happens a few times every season. We need to recognize these people aren't role models but have shortcomings too, and if they can do something to turn things around, it could have a positive effect."

Said Aiello: "Once outside the workplace, with things that affect job performance, like drug use, an employer has limited rights as to what he can do to discipline the employee. But with this, we defer to law-enforcement agencies and work with players to provide help to head off future problems. We're not a law-enforcement agency."